Ranking 5 most valuable Blazers trade assets this offseason

2 of 5

Anfernee Simons, Portland Trail Blazers (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

4. Anfernee Simons

Simons took a major leap in his fifth NBA campaign. He averaged career highs in scoring (21.1 ppg), assists (4.1), field-goal percentage (44.7), and free-throw percentage (89.4) while taking more shots than he ever has as a pro.

He became more dynamic on increased opportunities but also improved his efficiency, a significant jump for a player who’s only 23 years old.

With five years of NBA experience under his belt, there’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll continue to become a better scorer but also improve other areas of his game, playmaking and defense being the two most important.

Simons may be a better trade asset than the casual fan realizes. In addition to the improvements he’s already made to his game and the real potential for more, a lot of teams around the league could use a player of his archetype as a scoring combo guard with an expanding skill set.

There’s no reason to doubt that, as he continues to improve his playmaking ability, Simons could eventually vacillate between a legitimate point guard and a pure scoring guard.